READER CLAIMS DE LEON CANNOT SERVE AS P.U.B. ATTORNEY AS PER CITY CHARTER

Former Commissioner Cesar De Leon

Racial minorities in the United States are frequently suspicious, even resentful of other minority groups they fear may infringe on their already-diminished slice of the pie.

Nena and I lived and worked in the black community in Little Rock during both the Indo-Chinese resettlement in 1975 and the "Cuban Invasion" of 1980 and saw the tensions develop between poor whites and blacks and the two large groups of migrants.

Much the same as today's false Trump rhetoric, rumors raced throughout Arkansas that Castro, Fidel, not Erasmo, had simply emptied the prisons and mental institutions, sending the United States and Arkansas "bad people."  That malicious gossip proved just as untrue then as today.

So, a recording of Cesar De Leon using a racial slur to impress his beer-drinking buddies was no big surprise.  While that reflects poorly on Cesar, displaying, not only racism, but insecurity, but, for me, it was not the most disturbing aspect of that recording.

I've always said that it was more concerning that  De Leon asked several times "where is mine?" as if entitled because of his position of service.  That mindset is the exact opposite of so-called community service.

Anyway, now Cesar De Leon has, once again, resigned from the City Commission, and is now rumored to be "getting his" with an appointment to a six figure position as a Public Utilities Board attorney.

"Not so fast" claims an anonymous commenter to this blog who maintains that appointing De Leon to the P.U.B. position violates the city charter.

We quote the comment in full below with the supporting references from the charter:

"De Leon is not allowed to represent the P U B for at least one year or GBIC or any other board or commission for at least one year. 

De Leon was a member of GBIC and a City Commissioner, so he cannot represent the City Commission, GBIC or P U B. 

De Leon was a city commissioner that appointed current P U B board members and De Leon was a city commissioner that was active in meetings with P U B and in P U B matters. 

He cannot represent P U B or G B I C on anything before the city. That is a conflict of interest and a violation of the city ordinance. 

The purpose of the city ordinance is to prevent commissioners from doing business with the city or P U B due to "inside" information or just to use their former position to make a buck. 

El racista was involved in P U B decisions and executive meetings and had power to impact P U B fees so he cannot represent them. 

Anyone that chooses to support De Leon for something like this should be referred to the Attorney General for enforcement of the city laws.

Sec. 38-67. - Subsequent representation.

(a)Representation by former city commission member or former board or commission member. A person who was a member of the city commission, a board or commission, or another city body shall not represent any person, group, or entity, other than himself or his spouse, minor children, or domestic partner, for a period of one year after the termination of his official duties: (1) Before the city commission of that board, commission, or body; (2) Unless the board, commission, or body of which the former city official or employee was a member is only advisory in nature; (3) Before city staff having responsibility for making recommendations to or taking any action on behalf of the city commission or that board, commission, or body; or (4) Before a board, commission, or other city body that has appellate jurisdiction over the board, commission, or body of which the former city official or employee was a member, if any issue related to his former duties. (b)Representation before city. A former city official or employee shall not represent for compensation any person, group, or entity, other than himself or his spouse, minor children, or domestic partner, before the city for a period of one year after termination of his official duties where a matter is one in which the former city official or employee personally participated prior to termination of his official duties or is a matter substantially related to such a matter. This subsection does not apply to a person who was classified as a city official only because he was an appointed member of a board, commission, or other city body. For purposes of this subsection, the term "compensation" means money or any other thing of value that is received or is to be received in return for or in connection with such representation."